As for Patrick, in one breath he laughed at Kathleen's wit and courage, and in the next he praised her tender heart. "You're a good lass," he said, "and you've earned a good dinner anyway. Come into the house and we'll see what Bee has been baking the morn. Then, after the hounds are well out of the way, we'll open the barn door and see the deer take himself off to the woods." That afternoon, when they were all working in the bog, Kathleen heard Patrick telling Danny and Uncle Barney the story of her deer hunt. "There was Tim Keefe, on his old nag, with his pipe in his mouth," he said, "thinking he was the grand whipper-in, and would get the pound for himself." "It's a fine day that sees Tim Keefe outwitted for once," exclaimed Uncle Barney, slapping his knee with his hand. Kathleen heard his words and turned to him quickly. "You said that you would give a pound to hear that Tim Keefe had been outwitted," she said. Uncle Barney laughed till his sides shook. "Good for you! Good for you!" he said, and actually took out the money and gave it to her. She looked at it doubtfully, and he laughed again. "You earned it fair, and 'twas worth it," he told her. So Kathleen folded the money and put it carefully away in her pocket, thinking as she did so that, after all, the hunting-horn had brought a promise of help for little Mary Ellen. CHAPTER XII THE YOUNG MALONES The oldest one is Tara, Next Captain Connemara, And Moira and Norah, each a twin; Then "Save-a-Shilling Deena" And little Princess Feena, But hold the door,—there's others to come in; There's Hannah and there's Anna, We call them both "alanna," Then young Columba, he's the gentle dove; And last of all Victoria, She's not the one to frighten ye, For she's the youngest one, the one ye'll love. _Chorus_ Oh, would ye learn to count the young Malones? Ye've only just to trip it two by two; Of couples there's a many, At Malone's in old Kilkenny, And we'd like to count you two, too, at Malone's! Never did two travellers receive a noisier or heartier greeting than the ten young Malones gave to Danny and Kathleen on the night of their arrival from Tonroe. From twenty-four-year-old Tara to three-year-old Victoria there was nothing but bright faces, merry voices, and outstretched hands. No one could be shy or homesick in the midst of so much jollity, and in no time at all Kathleen was laughing and talking as gaily as if she had lived with "the Malones in old Kilkenny" all her life.